Insert Witty Joke about Nats Here
This week the Marlins fought through rain delays, former teammates acting like they had something to prove, their Ace having serious control issues, their rookie starter getting rocked by Adam Dunn, yet when the dust (and rain clouds) cleared, the Fish had themselves a 3 game sweep against the Washington Nati(o)nals. How? Thanks mostly to this man:
Hanley continued to carry the Marlins offense, going 8-11 with 7 RBI in the 3 games. As I am sure everyone knows by now, he became the first SS ever to rack up at least 1 RBI in 10 straight games with his 2-run double yesterday. Of course, some credit has to go to Coghlan and Bonifacio for getting on base in front of Ramirez. (I think Boni's splits for the season are roughly a .781 average against the Nats, and .125 average against everyone else). Regardless, Hanley has been on fire at the plate the last few weeks and now leads the NL with a .345 batting average. It goes without saying that he deserves the starting nod in the All-Star game, but more importantly, Hanley is a big reason why the Marlins are now just half a game behind the Phillies for first place! (3 games back in the loss column though).
The fact that the Marlins have won 8 of 12 without Kiko Calero in the bullpen and with a closer-by-committee without Calero is amazing enough, and it tells you that they must be getting contributions from everyone else, and save for Jeremy Hermida, they are.
Ricky Nolasco matched Scott Olsen in a great pitchers duel on Monday night, and has now lowered his ERA to 5.99 (hey, considering it was over 9.00 a month ago, that's a big accomplishment). Although Sean West gave up 5 runs on Tuesday, the offense found a way to claw back in it and take the lead before the rains came. And even when the Marlins most reliable pitcher just didn't have it yesterday, Badenhop came in and held down the fort, and Pinto promptly sabotaged his effort. But Cody Ross greeted the new Nati(o)nals reliever Burnett with a game-tying home run, and Wes Helms hit an RBI groundout the following inning to give the Marlins the lead for good. Nunez pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning (a rarity for the Fish this year) and even though Florida played less than perfect baseball this week, it all added up to a 9-0 record against the Nati(o)nals this season.
Regardless what the Phillies do tonight, at what is in my mind the second major benchmark of the season: 4th of July, which just happens to be the exact halfway point of the year for the Marlins, Florida will be right in the thick of the division race. The Phillies have just added Rodrigo Lopez (who might be worse than Chan Ho Park) to their rotation, the Mets are free-falling, and the Braves have no offense. The Fish certainly have their own needs: a consistent everyday RF, a catcher who can actually throw out more than 20% of would-be base stealers, a good 3B, a reliable closer, etc... But all those flaws really aren't any greater than the needs of the other contenders in the NL East. We can get into all that as this month moves along and the non-waiver trade deadline approaches, but the Marlins have rebounded from their terrible month of May and put themselves back in the mix of the division race.
Its an off-day for the Fish, so I will be rooting for the Pirates, who currently lead the Mets 5-0 (but hopefully the game will go 20 innings so the Buco's will be worn out for tomorrow's game), and the Braves against the Phillies tonight. The good thing about the Pirates game today is that Maholm is pitching and despite the Marlins' success against lefties this year, I'm glad he won't be on the hill this weekend.




































































